Loveland track and field collects three FRL event titles

Both LHS boys and girls finish top-five in conference

By Adam Dunivan Sports Writer

Posted:
05/10/2013 10:14:59 PM MDT

FORT COLLINS -- Versatility can be a pain sometimes. Just ask Ashley Krawczuk.

A hurdler, jumper and occasionally a relay component, track meets can get pretty complicated for the Loveland High School junior. Rare are the multi-day meets when she knows right where she needs to be and when she needs to be there.

State is one of those rarities, and fortunately, Krawczuk has earned her way there. Heck, at least physically, it is much less taxing than a lot of the competitive days during the season.

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It's the mental challenge that she'll need to be prepared for more than anything, and she got a nice start at Friday's Front Range League Championships at French Field. By setting personal bests in, well, basically everything she competed in -- including winning the long jump -- Krawczuk put herself in a pretty good state of mind for the next week.

"I went to state as an alternate last year but did not get to compete, so it's going to be fun," she said after jumping a distance of 17 feet, 5.75 inches to win the long jump. "I'm just gonna go for it, as best as I can do."

Ashley Krawczuk
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Steve Stoner
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It wasn't a cake-walk win. After running the 300 hurdles -- she finished third at 45.78 seconds -- she had to come over to the pit and complete three consecutive preliminary jumps without another competitor between.

She played it smooth, however, and ended up throwing her best mark out there on the second finals jump.

"I was actually scared, because I didn't do well on the first jump, didn't do well on the second, and so I just took the full two minutes that they gave me to calm down and think about what I'm doing, just get in the finals," she said. "When I got 17-4, I was like, OK that's exactly where I need to be."

John Freismuth
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Steve Stoner
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The long jump was actually the event she shrugs off a lot of the time as just a "throw-in", so to win it was quite an accomplishment. She also helped her team to a fourth-place finish by finishing second in the high jump (5-4 1/2), third in the 300 hurdles (45.78) and seventh in the 100 hurdles.

She was particularly proud of her distance hurdles run, and considering where she came from after just picking up the discipline at the season's outset, she's come a long way. Her coach agreed.

"Ashley really just raised her level in everything she did today. She's qualified in so many events that we have to decide where to put her and that's a great problem to have," coach Paul Quere said. "But she really just grew and developed as a competitor."

The Indians, the four-time defending league champs, earned a ton of their 88 points in the field. Heather Waite cleared 11 feet in the pole vault to easily win the league title, and Taylor Buschy added points in long jump and hurdles, too. Alex Koschel finished fifth in the triple jump, Lorell Stuht placed sixth in discus and Tatiana Eliazade was fifth in shot put.

Buschy had a lot thrown upon her, Quere said, adding that because of the effort of a few the Indians walked away satisfied.

"This is a great conference, and you have to be great to win this conference," Quere said. "What we look for is, are we giving it our best efforts and competing well. I'm proud of the way they competed, and we'll go down to state and compete the same way.

"We asked Taylor to do an awful lot, and we knew we needed to blow up our relays if we wanted any chance to do anything, so Taylor ran all opens and placed in all of them. It was a great job by her."

John Freismuth put himself into contention for a state title in the high jump by vaulting himself to 6-5.5, good for a top-in-the-FRL finish and a PR. The meet set up well for Freismuth to do something special, with the weather calming down at the right time, as well as his nerves.

Based on season-to-date stats, he was the underdog to Tyler Russell of Fossil Ridge. On this day, though, Freismuth was two inches better as Russell managed a top jump of 6-3.5 to finish second.

"I think the competition with Tyler was huge, because I know he's a good jumper and he really does push me," Freismuth said. "I wanted to get a good mark going into state. The mindset coming in was, yeah, I want to win this and show the team how much I wanted to help out. This is my first (conference title), and I proved to myself that I can do it."

Back on the track, Trevin Long placed second in the 100 with a time of 11.03 -- which put him in state-qualifying territory were it not for a 2.8 tailwind that nixes it as a recordable time. Still, along with running in a pair of successful sprint relays, Long felt like he gained confidence as a youngster in a tough league.

"It's a good base to start with for next year," Long said. "In my heart, it counts, and I feel like it's a good time. Having a good start is my main thing, I feel like if it's a good run it's because of my start. That helped me today, a really nice start."

In both genders, the Indians are looking to build back to being a true force in the FRL; after Friday, they have one team to set their sights on as Fort Collins won team titles in both boys and girls. The girls point race came down to the wire, as the Lampkins edged Fossil Ridge by a single point, 148-147.

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